Method of forming wrench-sockets



P. C. BALDUS.

METHOD OF FORMING WRENCH SOCKETS. I APPLICATION FILED JUNE H, 1920- '1,375,'767. Patented Apr. 26, 1921.

1/7 VEH TOR: W/ T1755 5 ES 5? 7 M @JM ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL C. BALDUS, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

METHOD OF FORMING WRENCH-SOCKETS.

T all whom it 72mg concern Be it known that I, PAUL C. BALDUS, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Methods of Forming Trench-Sockets, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

The invention relates to a method for forming socket wrenches.

It is customary to form the nut engaging socket of a socket wrench by boring a hole in the end of the stock and broaching this hole so as to produce the hexagonal or other polygonal faces for engaging the nut. This method is expensive when labor and material are considered. It is the object of invention to provide a method for forming socket wrenches in which the amount of labor and material is greatly reduced over previous methods and in which all the available material in the stock blank is used to form the walls of the wrench.

A further object of this invention is to provide a method for forming socket wrenches having tapering polygonal ends.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a blank prepared for the pressing operation; Fig. 2 is a view of the finished wrench; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through a set of dies to illustrate the manner of forming the wrench; Fig. 4 shows the change made in the blank to form the socket.

A solid piece of cold rolled steel stock of circular cross section is machined to form a shank portion 4, body portion 5 provided with a central bore 6 and an inwardly tapered end 7. This forms a blank from which the finished wrench is fashioned and may be easily and quickly made in an automatic screw machine.

Referring to Fig. 3, the numeral 8 designates a fixed die having a polygonal shaped bore 9 with an outwardly tapering upper end 10 and an inwardly tapering lower end 10. Another fixed die 11 has polygonal sides similar to those formed by the bore 9 and disposed parallel to the corresponding sides of said bore with its upper end 12 tapering inwardly. The die 11 is mounted upon a plug 13 secured to the die 8 and 1s centrally disposed with respect to the die 8 so that both of these dies cooperate to form an annular space having polygonal shaped Specification of Letters Patent. 7

walls with a flaring entrance to and a contracted lower end.

The blank, formed as previously described, 15 secured to the movable member 14: of a sultable press, said member being so positio-ned with respect to the fixed dies as to bring the bore 6 into register with the top end of the die 11 with its axis alined with that of the die. When pressure is applied to the blank in this position by the downward movement of the member 14 the circular wall of said blank is forced into the polygonal space between the dies, said dies shaping the cylindrical portion of the blank nto polygonal shape. In forming the socket in thls manner some of the metal forming the walls is pressed outwardly, particularly where the corners of the wrench are made, and some of the metal is'pressed inwardly, as shown by the dotted and full lines in Fig. 4, with the result that the blank which had a cylindrical wall of uniform thickness at any cross section is now pressed into a polygonal shape in which the walls have the same uniform thickness at the same cross section. The tapered end 7 of the blank cooperates with the tapered end 10 of the die -8 to facilitate passage of the blank between the dies and the lower tapered end 10 of said die produces a polygonal shaped outer surface on this tapered end.

After the pressing operation is completed, the finished socket may be removed from the dies in any suitable manner, as by means of a stripper 15 slidably mounted in the space between the dies 11 and 8 and connected by pins 16 to a plate 17. A spring 18 is interposed between this plate and a washer 19 upon a rod 20 mounted in the die 11 so as to normally act to move the strip-per u wardly, but which is moved downward y during the forming operation.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. The method of forming a socket wrench which consists in forming a blank with a tubular end from solid stock and pressing the tubular portion of this blank between Patented Apr. 26,1921 Application filed June 11, 1920. Serial No. 388,257.

said. space and tapering the outer surface of said tubuwhich consists in forming a blank with a lar portion at its lower end, pressing the tubular portion having a conical end from tubular portion of this blank between two solid cylindrical stock, pressing the tubular dies of polygonal formation having a flarportion of this blank between two dies of 15 5 ing entrance between the dies so as to change polygonal formation having a flaring enthe circular section at any cross section trance and a contracted lower end soas to through theblank into a polygonal section, change the circular section of the blank to the walls of which have substantially the a polygonal section with a tapered lower same thickness as the circular section of the 10 blank. In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

3. The method of forming a socket wrench PAUL C. BALDUS. 

